The New Normal
by burtneymac95
Summary: After Susan Ross wins the presidential election, it's time for Fitz to move out of the White House. After reconnecting with Olivia during the campaign, he propositions her with a choice. Will he move to Santa Barbara or will they move to their house in Vermont? Post 5x16. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since I have written anything. I recently moved to LA and am currently attending a film school, on top of an internship, so my life has been pretty crazy the past three months.**_

 _ **It's also been very hard for me to sit down and right for Olitz because honestly, I could not figure out how these two would find their way back to each other. I tried coming up with so many scenarios, but nothing worked.**_

 _ **Then the past episode gave me inspiration. I never thought about them coming together for the campaign, but they are and I am so excited about it! This story is just going to be a two-shot, but I really hope you enjoy it!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Even though I met all of them at Paley Fest and Tony Goldwyn signed my Team Fitz shirt, I still don't own Scandal.**_

* * *

The sound of cheering can be heard on the television. Wine is being poured into a glass. Popcorn is being popped in the microwave. Olivia grabs her glass of wine and heads to the couch, waiting for the popcorn to be done.

On the television, footage from this morning of Susan Ross being sworn in as the next president of the United States is being shown.

Mellie lost. Olivia lost…and Fitz won.

" _Damn him,"_ she thinks to herself, taking a long sip of her wine.

The microwave starts beeping, indicating that her beloved popcorn was ready for her consumption. She stands up to retrieve it when her phone rings. She looks at the caller ID and smiles, pressing the button to answer it.

"Calling to gloat, Mr. President?"

"Well as of about 12 hours ago, I'm no longer the president."

"You know you're still going to be considered President Grant, right?"

"Of course. I'm always going to be plagued by my time in prison."

She laughs, taking her popcorn out of the microwave. She shakes the bag and opens it up.

"Let me guess, you just popped a bag of popcorn, you probably already have a glass of wine sitting on the coffee table, and you're watching Susan get sworn in for probably the hundredth time today. Am I right?"

She looks around the apartment, wondering if he's watching her somehow.

"How did you…"

"I know you, Liv."

She smiles. "Yeah I uh…I guess you do."

"I just wanted to tell you how great of a campaign you ran, even if it was for _Mellie_."

She rolls her eyes at his articulation of his ex-wife's name. "She would've made a great president."

"As will Susan. It was fun being on opposite sides for once."

"For once? We've been on opposite sides for the past eight years."

"I mean in a campaign. Going head to head with the great Olivia Pope was an honor. It's even better now that my candidate won."

"Your candidate won two months ago. Stop rubbing it in."

"Well we haven't really talked much since so now is my chance to do so."

"You're a sore winner," she jokes.

"And you're a sore loser."

She smiles and takes a deep breath. She loves and has missed this flirtatious banter.

"I hate you," she lies.

The phone goes silent, making her stomach start doing somersaults, wondering what he is going to say back.

"I hate you too."

She thinks back to that phone call they had oh so many years ago where they both said the exact thing they just did. How they both substituted "hate" for "love".

"I miss you, Livvie."

Tears start forming in her eyes and her heart starts pounding out of her chest.

"Fitz…we tried. We're different."

"You used to say that was our strength."

"I can't…I can't talk about this right now."

"There's something I have to tell you. In person. Can I come over?"

She shakes her head as if he can see her. "I don't think that's a good…"

"It's important. Please? This isn't something I want you to hear over the phone or from someone else."

She contemplates what she wants, but is dying to know what he has to tell her.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"You can come over."

"I'll be there in twenty."

The line goes dead as she ends the call, starting to panic. Sure her and Fitz have gotten close again after this election, but they haven't been alone in the same room together yet. The thought of it is enough to make her sick.

Eating her popcorn extremely fast, she tries to take her mind off of it. She looks down at her outfit. This isn't going to do. She runs back to her bedroom and puts on her red silk night gown. She goes into the bathroom and shaves her legs, you know…just in case.

As she steps back into her bedroom, she starts laughing at herself. This is silly. He's seen her at her best and her worst. It doesn't matter what clothes she has on (or lack thereof) and whether her legs or shaved or not. He loves her no matter what.

" _Shit,"_ she thinks. _"I just thought about him loving me. But he has to, right? I still love him, no matter what I say or do. It's okay to think that he still loves me."_

She mentally yells at herself to calm down. There's a knock on her door as she smooths her night gown out and walks to the door, checking the peep hole. She opens the door and there he stands, a huge grin on his face as he looks her up and down.

"You look…comfy."

"I am. I'm sorry, I should've put some different clothes on. I've been wearing this all night."

"No, it's fine. I like it. It…it looks beautiful on you."

He walks into the apartment and smiles when he sees the popcorn and wine on the coffee table. Does he know her or what?

She blushes, embarrassingly so. "Thank you. Would you like a glass of wine?"

"Got anything stronger?"

"Just bourbon."

"Ehh…I'll take it."

She goes to the kitchen and pours him a glass of bourbon.

"So…what did you have to come here to talk to me about?"

"Oh, yeah. Right. I…Maybe we should sit down for this," he starts, stumbling with his words.

"Okay? Is it really that serious though?"

"I mean…maybe. To me it is. I don't know about you though. I guess I would like to think that it would be a big deal for you too, but…I don't know."

He grabs the glass as they walk over to the couch.

"What is it?" she asks impatiently.

"Okay well, as you know I am no longer the president, which means the White House is no longer my home, which means…I don't have a home. Well I do, but…"

"But it's in Vermont. Right."

"Yeah, but that's not the point. The point is…I was thinking about moving back to Santa Barbara and possibly selling the house in Vermont."

"You're…you're going to sell it?" She slowly asks, a lump forming in her throat.

He cannot be serious. That's _their_ house. He can't sell it.

"Well I certainly can't live in it. Not without…you. So I just thought it would make sense to sell it since we won't be living in it."

"Ya-yeah. I guess that makes sense," she manages to say.

"Do you? I've been thinking long and hard about it and I believe that Santa Barbara may be what I need right now, but I still don't know if letting go of Vermont is the right choice."

"Then…then do it. You should do it."

She mentally yells at herself, knowing that that's not what she wanted to say.

"Do what? Santa Barbara or sell the house? Because if you don't want me to sell it, I won't."

"Well no one's going to be living in, right? So why should it get wasted? I'm sure some incredibly in love couple will just love it."

"Olivia…I don't think you're understanding what I'm insinuating." He leans in closer to her. "Is there a reason for me to keep the house? Do I need to move to Santa Barbara?"

"I can't tell you what to do, Fitz. You're a free man now. You need to do what's best for you."

Starting to get annoyed, he stands up and starts pacing the room.

"What's best for me is sitting in front of me telling me I should sell the dream house and move across the country!"

She stands up as well, getting a little heated. "You think that that's what I want you to do? You think I don't want to live in the dream house with you? Live the life that we have always dreamed? We tried, Fitz! It didn't work out."

"Oh come on! We barely tried. And we were in the confines of the White House. This is our chance to just be us. To be the people that we've always wanted to be."

He walks up to her and is now inches from her face. "I've changed, Olivia. Being alone changed me. It made me a better man, a man who knows what he wants from his life. And that is you. It has always been you. These past how many months have been amazing getting close to you again. I felt alive again. I felt like me. I realized that you are what makes me a better man. You bring out the best version of myself. I _need_ you in my life. I know things didn't work out before. We both made so many mistakes. But we can fix it. We can move to Vermont and be those people. There is nothing standing in our way now. I love you, Olivia Pope. I have never stopped loving you, and I never will. If I'm not what you want, fine. If a life in Vermont is not what you want, fine. I will sell the house and move to California. But if we're what you want, then let's do this. Let's be us, Livvie."

He grabs her hands as they stare into each others eyes. The tears are starting to flow down her face. She takes a deep breath and removes herself from his grasp.

"I…I'm scared Fitz. What if it doesn't work out? Going through the heartbreak of losing you tears me apart every single time. I can't do it again."

"This time can be different. I think we owe it to ourselves to at least try, don't you?"

"I…I..."

Their last fight, their break-up, starts replaying in her mind. Her dad, Jake, the abortion...everything hits her all at once.

"I can't do this. You need to leave."

"Olivia, I'm leaving in two days. For good. Whether it's with or without you. If I leave now then…I'm not coming back."

She starts crying harder, not being able to hold it in anymore.

"Why? Why does this have to be decided right now? This is a big step, a huge step. I can't…I'm not a psychic, Fitz. If I could see into the future and know that we work out…" She begins pacing the floor. "I can't keep doing this. We break up and we make up, break up and make up. I can't keep doing this. I can't lose you again."

"You won't have to. Trust me when I say this that I am never going to let you go again. When you left the last time, I didn't fight hard enough for us. We both just let it happen. But I promise you that I will fight for us until the end of time. You are the love of my life. I am a free man. We have dreamt about this day for over eight years. I cannot be without you any longer."

She puts her head down, not saying anything. He walks over to her and holds her arms.

"I won't make you decide right now, okay? I leave in two days. Will it be Santa Barbara or Vermont? Well…that's up to you."

He kisses her forehead and walks towards the door.

"I love you, Livvie."

She looks up as she watches him walk out of her apartment.

"I love you too, Fitz."

* * *

 _ **Thoughts? :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Sorry it's taken me a couple days to update, I've been crazy busy! But thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the kind and amazing reviews on the first chapter. I'm so happy you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy this one just as much. :)**_

* * *

"Olivia, you can't leave us! You are our leader! You are the boss. We need you, Huck needs you."

Olivia has been rationalizing her and Fitz's relationship the past day and a half. She's thought about every single thing that's ever happened between them and realized that they always find their way back to each other. Their love can never be broken. She's missed him and the way that he makes her feel both, physically and emotionally. She needs him in her life.

"Quinn, I know. But I…I love him. He is finally out of the White House. This could be our shot to be a normal couple."

"You are never going to be a normal couple! Do you really think moving to Vermont means that people are going to leave you alone? He's not just going to drop off of the radar because he's no longer president. There will always be a story for them to sell about him. He can pretend to be normal all he wants, but he will always be the president of the United States and you will always be his mistress!"

Olivia takes a step away from her, the intensity and truth in her words hitting Olivia like a fifty pound brick.

"I'm sorry, Liv. I'm not trying to upset you or piss you off, you just need to realize that this fantasy you two have always dreamed about is just that, a fantasy."

Olivia paces around the office, thinking about what Quinn said. She had a point. She was absolutely right.

"You're…you're right. Moving to Vermont isn't going to keep the paparazzi away from us. He will never be mayor and I will never make jam. It's…never going to happen."

"I want to see you happy Liv, I do. But Vermont can't happen."

Olivia nods her head up and down, then feeling her phone vibrate indicating she has a text.

" _I've officially moved all of my stuff out of the White House. I will be staying at the George Washington Hotel tonight until tomorrow. My room is in the Penthouse Suite on the 22_ _nd_ _floor. If you need me, you know where to find me. Xo, Fitz."_

Her eyes start welling up with tears.

"Is that him?"

"Yeah…he's staying at the George Washington tonight until he leaves tomorrow."

"Are you going to go see him? Tell him that Vermont isn't happening?"

"I should. Yes, I should do that."

"Good. I'll be here if you need me, Liv."

"Thank you Quinn. I appreciate all that you have done for me and for OPA."

"Of course. We're family."

"Yes, we are family. I'll call you later."

* * *

She knocks on the hotel door, nervous as ever. The Secret Service are eyeing her up and down, thinking they know what's about to go down.

He opens the door and she immediately just wants to jump in his arms, but she can't do that. That's not what she's here for.

"Hi," he says, a huge smile on his face.

"Hi," she whispers.

"Please, come in."

He holds the door open as she enters the suite.

"Thank you."

They stand in awkward silence for a couple moments before he finally decides to speak.

"Sooo…what's the verdict?"

They stare at each other, tears running down her face for what feels like the hundredth time today. Her lip is quivering. The look on her face tells him exactly what she's thinking.

"I'm going to take that as your way of saying that we won't be moving to Vermont?"

She slowly shakes her head.

His eye begins to subtly twitch, as tears form in his as well. He feels heartbroken.

"Right. Okay. That's…fine. Thank you for having the decency to tell me in person."

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Sorry? You're sorry?!" His voice is getting higher and louder. "Don't…don't apologize. Just…go."

She lunges toward him. "Fitz, please."

He turns around in anger. "Please what?! Huh? What do you want from me? I'm giving us the opportunity to finally be together like normal people, to finally live our dream. And you don't want that, so what do you want?"

"You!"

He takes a step back, surprised by her admission.

"I want you so bad that it hurts! But...we're never going to be normal people. The paparazzi will always be around. You will always be the president. People aren't going to stop caring about you and wanting to know and document your every move. You act like we're just suddenly going to become a couple that goes to the grocery store together and takes their kids to soccer games without anyone making a big deal about it. You are always going to be a big deal. Vermont...is a fantasy."

He lets her words sink in, finally realizing that she might just be right. They're never going to live a normal and low-profile life. They were naïve to ever think so. He sits down on the couch.

"You're right. You are absolutely right. How were we so blind before?"

She sits down beside him and takes his hand in hers. "We just wanted our fantasy to be reality. But it's just that, a fantasy. And I can't leave my people. They're my family. They need me. OPA is who I am, what I enjoy doing. I can't leave that behind, not right now."

"I understand that. I'm sorry that I never thought about what you would be giving up."

"Why do you have to move to Santa Barbara? Why can't you just stay here?"

"I was so set on the fact that if there was no Vermont, there was no us. If there was no us, I didn't want to be here. I thought that moving across the country would make getting over you easier."

"You're wrong."

He looks up at her, staring into her big brown eyes.

"Just because there's no Vermont, doesn't mean there's no us. We can try again, Fitz. I want to try again. Let's stop trying to be normal, and just be us. You can find something to do here in DC, I'm sure. I'll still run OPA. We can come home and tell each other about our days. We can make a life for ourselves, here. We don't have to sell the house in Vermont. It can be our vacation home and possibly our real home one day."

"Is that what you really want? This sounds so unlike you."

"Of course it is. Being without you this past year made me realize what I want and who I want to be. I want to still be Olivia Pope and do what I love, but I want and need you in my life as well. It's the perfect balance. I've finally found myself."

His eyes start to light up and a smile finally forms on his face.

"I love you, Fitzgerald Grant. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I think that if we stop making Vermont a fantasy and live here in our reality, we can make it work."

There's a brief pause before he replies, "I would like nothing more than that."

He slowly pulls her into him, gently placing his mouth on hers. Their lips haven't touched in such a long time that he wants to savor this passionate kiss, this declaration of their love. After their lips part, she places her head against his.

"So...DC is the new normal, huh?" he asks.

"The new normal? I kind of like that."

Their mouths crash upon each other's once again, devouring the taste of one another.

"So uh...what happens next?" she asks, a smirk on her face.

He smiles a smile that could light up a room.

"Whatever we want."

* * *

 _ **Fin.**_

 _ **Until next time, my friends.**_


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